Apologies and Orange Juice
by MizEmily
Summary: Rukia and Renji contemplate forgiveness and friendship under the stars one night. PostSS arc.


Kuchiki Rukia was on a mission. A very important mission. In fact, the success or failure of this mission would determine whether or not she could, or would ever be... a good friend.

She hated to admit it, the Kuchiki pride having bit into her after several years of living with Byakuya-nii-sama, but she had been a poor friend lately. Not to Ichigo, Inoue-san, or the others she had met while parading around the mortal world in her faux body. She had been a poor friend to someone who'd been there with her almost since she could remember, and certainly her entire life as a shinigami.

Renji.

Abarai-kun, her best friend, her _oldest_ friend.

Had she been that distant lately... or had the Shrine of Pennitence given her no choice? Truthfully, Rukia didn't know. Her main concern the last few weeks had been making peace with herself before her imminent death.

Now that she had a bit of "down time" after the crisis (catastrophe) that was Aizen she wasn't quite sure what what to do with herself. Should she make ammends to her taichou, honorable Ukitake? Should she beg forgiveness (and affection) from Nii-sama? Would Yamamoto-sama desire her personal pennitence still, though Aizen's treachery had been discovered? Or would she place the highest value on her friends, her moral and emotional support for... _how long had it been?_

Renji.

Rukia let out a deep breath she had been holding, and placed her hands at her sides. Her fingers clenched in anticipation of a less-than-favorable reaction from him.

She didn't think he was going to enjoy her-

"RENJI!"

-blurting out his name... right in his ear.

Renji, naturally, didn't react favorably. In fact, he shrieked like a schoolgirl and threw himself onto the floor. He felt like a fool when he finally looked up.

Kuchiki Rukia looked very interested in why he was prostrate on the ground at her feet.

"Oi, Rukia! You scared the shit outta me!" he huffed, red-faced, and pulled himself onto two legs. It was very hard to dust himself off with any amount of dignity, though. This done Renji looked back at Rukia, who hadn't said another word yet. She looked... nervous.

Nervous? The Rukia he knew, the shinigami, not the prisoner, would already have told him her business. She would have at least laughed at him for being such a damn moron. The girl in front of him said nothing, however. Renji didn't like what the Tower had done to Rukia, what the seventeen days enclosed in lethality-stone had done to her normally dominant personality. It was as though she was ashamed of herself for something.

"Renji, I... I was wondering if you would come with me somewhere tonight. I would like to talk to you."

He saw her make a visible effort to square her shoulders, lift her chin, and stand up straighter. He knew she hated being seen as weak when she was so very strong.

"Sure, Rukia. Where are we going?"

Rukia's eyes darted to the floor, then back up to Renji.

"Soukyouku Hill."

His breath hitched for a moment, but Rukia's confident stance had not changed. Renji smiled at his friend. "Any time in particular?"

Rukia smiled as well.

Five hours later Abarai Renji found himself staring dumbly at the spot where Aizen had nearly killed him but a few weeks prior.

Hell, he'd nearly been killed three times in the past month... and it had all led up to those last few, terrifying moments with Aizen dangling Rukia from his fingers so casually, as if she were nothing beneath her robes. To Aizen, Renji thought with more than a bit of malice, he supposed she really _was_ nothing.

Before Renji could be pulled to deeply into thought, he felt the ghosts of fingers dance across his left shoulder. Rukia.

He turned to her and his eyebrows immediately shot up into his visor. She was wearing a dress of indeterminate yellow fabric that ended just above her knees, and in her hands were two small orange boxes. He was surprised, to say the least.

"Rukia, you-"

"-Ishida-san made it for me, so... I thought I'd try it on..." she interrupted. Obviously her outfit warranted some explaination. She dug the toe of her equally strange white sandals into the dirt. "The boxes are what I brought back from the human world in my satchel."

Renji had to blink a few times to put everything into focus, but he quickly got used to the idea of seeing Rukia's knees poke out from that short, yellow dress.

"I... that is to say, uh... you look real nice, Rukia."

Reji resisted the urge to hide his face from her. It was dark. She couldn't tell that his cheeks were roughly the same shade of red as his hair, could she?

Rukia, for her part... well, she was thinking the exact same thing, actually. No matter. Tonight she was going to have to put all of her personal shame aside. She was going to spend some nice quality time with Renji, damnit!

"Here... let me, um..." Rukia scrambled to jam the plastic straw into the box of orange juice (for that's what it was), and when she finally handed it to Renji all he did was stare. She didn't blame him.

"Take it," Rukia said, smiling. Renji did so, and Rukia opened the seal on her juice as well. "Now, we drink." The white straw went into her mouth, and she drew up some of the liquid.

Renji thought it best to follow suit, and so he stuck the straw in hs mouth and sucked. ( no disturbing puns intended)

The first thing he registered was: sweet, but tart.

He let the straw fall from his mouth, and a stray drop of juice rolled down his chin. "Ith tho thweet!" he exclaimed, eyes lighting up.

Rukia grinned and wiped the droplet from his chin with a finger. "I'm glad you like it. And Renji," she sighed as she turned her eyes to the inky black night, "I want you to know that I'm going to make it up to you. For everything."

The dress clung to her frame when she twisted away from him, and Renji thought she looked impossibly small. He reached out a hand, touched her tiny shoulders.

"I know what I did in the human world is wrong. Giving my powers to a human, using Urahara's gigai... worrying Yamamoto-sama, nii-sama, you... But I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Renji clasped her shoulders tighter. "Rukia, there's nothing to forgive. No one blames you for your desicions in the human world. Any one of us could have-"

At the stiffening of her shoulders, Renji turned Rukia to face him. He'd had about enough of this demure, apologetic, _pathetic_ Rukia.

"Look, damnit. I want you to just _let it go_. All of that guilt," he said, tipping her chin up with a hand so he could look into her eyes, "that is forcing you to look at the ground or the sky instead of me. You have nothing to apologize for, Rukia. In fact, I'm kinda glad you gave that idiot your powers... so he could save you when I couldn't."

Renji sighed deeply and smirked. It seemed he had his own issues with guilt. "Hey, let's just enjoy our... sweet, liquid stuff... alright?" He flopped onto his back on the ground, face to the stars. Rukia followed, but hesitated before laying down.

Was it alright to lay so close to Renji? Were they... friends again? Renji answered her unspoken question by grabbing her shoulder and pulling her head down to his torso.

Rukia blushed from head to toe for a moment, but relaxed when she saw the blanket of stars that covered them. What a wonderful way to watch the night with her friend. When Renji spoke again, she could feel the thrum of his voice deep in his chest.

"I think we're gonna be alright, you and me."

At that moment, with the stars glittering and her head rising and falling with Renji's breath, Rukia thought he might be right.


End file.
